Sunday Aug 14, 2022 - We left Jasper for Banff, but first it's a 3 hour drive on the Icefields Parkway. It was the most gorgeous drive ever. There are 100 glaciers which can be viewed from the parkway and each one was prettier than the last. About mid-way on the trip is the Columbia Icefield, which is the largest mass of glacial ice in the Canadian Rockies. I took lots of pictures on this drive, but they just don't do it justice. You really need to go see it for yourself. We stopped for lunch and walked along the river and shortly after we started driving, we came to a road block. There had been a head-on collision further down the parkway and they were still investigating/cleaning up. They thought it could be 3 hours or more. Aunt Gerry and Uncle Gene had planned to spend one night in Banff and then continue their drive home. We had decided we would spend a few days in Banff. With the possibility of so much time waiting for the road to open, Gene & Gerry decided they would hang a left and go to Red Deer for the night skipping Banff. It was a really tough farewell since we've had such a great time over the last 2 and a half months, but it was what we needed to do. We waited until the parkway was opened up and got to our campground outside of the town of Banff around 6:00.
Morning View of the mountains from our campsite at the Jackson overflow lot
Tiny is ready for the drive to Banff
So is the basil
Jasper sure has some beautiful mountains
Our first stop on the Icefields Parkway...these wildflowers look like dandelions!
glaciers in the distance
Gerry getting some pics
Lep and Tiny
glaciers...
glaciers...
and more glaciers. I especially like this one that looked like icing on the top of a slice of cake
Columbia Icefield
We stopped at the Icefields Visitor Center and from here there are all sorts of options. You can have a covered snow buggy take you onto the glacier, you can hike quite close to the glacier (but not on it without a tour), and you can do the sky bridge which is a glass sidewalk over the Athabascan glacier). This was a huge facility and you can use the parking lot as overflow camping, which if it weren't so early in the day I would have loved to do. The view was amazing. There were tons of people here and we just stopped to find out info about Banff.
Group selfie in front of the Columbia Icefield
Our stop for lunch
a walk along this nice glacial river
Maribelle loves to drink out of any river, stream or lake we pass
nice spot for a lunch
We got there as they were removing the second car.
more glaciers after lunch
and a black bear and two cubs were out for lunch
We made it to Banff and the views driving in were amazing
Along the Highway in Banff they have built overpasses for the wildlife
Our campsite at Two Jack Main.
The whole campground looks like this...lots of skinny trees.
Iconic views every where you look
We got to downtown Banff early, to find out what we should do while we're here. The visitor center always knows best. Cute, empty downtown.
We started with a walk along the Bow River, which had local art along the trail. I've never seen that anywhere, but really enjoyed seeing art along with nature.
Kev at the top of the Bow Falls
Looking down the falls
More pics of the falls
the Bow Bridge
We did a quick tour of the Banff Park Museum, which was built in the early 1900s and remains as it was through the early 30s, when the museum curator retired. The style of museum (taxidermy specimens) lost favor in the mid to late 1900s and the original exhibits were considered surplus in the late 50s. Luckily the building and exhibits were saved and the museum is now a historical site.
love the paneling everywhere AND the bald eagle
A collection of eggs
quite the view
main street looks like it runs right into that mountain
E-BIKES!!!
We started by riding out to Vermillion Lakes
One of the chain of Vermillion Lakes and a pretty unique sky
lunch on a bench
Next we rode up a really big hill (that we never would have ridden up without our Turbo Pedal-assist) to the Banff Hoodoos
Then after 3 hours we dropped the bikes back at the bike shop
Then a beer with a view at the Banff Ave Brewing Co
It looks like Switzerland
We were lucky to book a second night at Two Jack Main (we got the last site). Looks like rain on the way there but no rain.
Home sweet home. Cooking Asparagus and sauteing mushrooms for dinner while Kevin cooks salmon (our salmon!) on the electric fry pan outside
dinner at our campsite
Tuesday, Aug 16, 2022 - We left early for Johnson Lake and we were glad we did, since we were the only ones on the 2 mile trail around the lake. There were lots of reflections and I couldn't help myself, and took lots of pics, since each view seemed just a little different from the last. Then we drove to Lake Minnewanka for a hike up the Stewart Canyon Trail to the Bridge (another 2 mile hike). It was rather crowded with people, and the lake was full of boats, kayaks and paddle boarders.
Johnson Lake
In the afternoon this beach is full of people
the water was so clear, you could see logs and sticks on the bottom of the lake
view from the far end of Johnson Lake
perfect reflection
more reflections
nice spot for a rest
It was just a 10 minute drive to Lake Minnewanka (a much larger lake)
but quite pretty as well
lunch with a view
view from the bridge
the Lake Louise visitor center (nice bench)
we've got tickets to go to L
ake Louise and Moraine Lake tomorrow, using the shuttle bus, so we drove the 45 minutes to Lake Louise Village and stayed at the overflow camping tonight($9/night)
Wednesday, Aug 17, 2022 - We left the overflow parking lot and headed straight for the park and ride, our bus ticket was for between 9-10:00, but they let us get on early (8:30). Early is always better. It was a 20 minute ride to Lake Louise and we had decided to take the 4.5 mile, roundtrip hike to the Lake Agnes Tea House. It took us about an hour and 45 minutes up and an hour down. I think we're going to be sore tomorrow. The 1300 ft elevation was the tough part. Next we grabbed the bus to Moraine Lake. We had heard that the best view of the lake was from the Rock Pile. This was a quick 10 minute walk up a pile of rocks for what was really an amazing view. We then headed to Calgary, a one and a half hour drive, for some poker at the Cowboys Casino. We'll see where we end up sleeping. iOverlander says there is a Walmart that allows overnight sleeping that's about 15 minutes from the casino.
quite a few RVs had left, when we headed out at 8:00
It's a bit difficult to get to Lake Louise, there is limited parking and they really recommend taking the bus. When we tried to book tickets on the bus, they were booked two days out. The park and ride is located at the Lake Louise ski resort, so it was fun to see the lodge and some of the ski runs. You can ride the gondola to the top, which I'm sure has amazing views of the area, but we'll have to save that for next time.
Lake Louise, with Victoria glacier above it (and a few kayaks on the water)
another clear lake that you can see the bottom of
there is a two mile hike along the lake, but we're headed up the mountain
up we go...
looking down on the lake
some people were lucky enough to take a horse ride to the tea house
about 3/4ths of the way up we stopped at Mirror Lake with the Beehive above it
a quick breather...
or two
the final steps to the top
the tea house had a beautiful view
Lake Agnes
the Tea House
hiking down is much easier!
a peek at Lake Louise on the way down
we made it!
another picnic lunch with a view
while we were eating lunch, we saw Victoria Glacier calve several times. It was pretty cool, that we would see a huge flow of ice, and then a few seconds later we would hear it crash to the ground
Next we took the bus to Moraine Lake. Here we climbed the "Rock Pile" for the epic view of the lake
more UP, but...
the view was so worth it!
Moraine Lake was even bluer than Lake Louise. Glacial-fed alpine lakes in the Rocky Mountains are among the clearest in the world. Fine rock dust produced by the glaciers rubbing against bedrock, stays suspended in the water. reflecting light and creating the turquoise colors that Moraine and Lake Louise are known for.
from the top of the rock pile
It's hard to see how huge this rock pile is, but it's 100 feet tall (you can maybe see a few people at the top, if you look closely). The glaciers at Banff National Park are flowing rivers of ice that push broken rocks and other debris along at their front and sides. When the flow stops and the glacier starts receding, it leaves piles of rocky debris (like the rock pile in the pic), which are known as moraines (hence the name Moraine Lake).
